Lauren Gardner is reporting for Politico American students used to easy access to Canadian schools are now experiencing barriers to physically accessing their campuses as the country's borders remain all but closed due to the coronavirus. Visas once processed in weeks are taking months to secure. Students have been asked to prove that their physical presence is essential. “It’s a mess,” said Christopher Collette, an immigration attorney at Campbell Cohen in suburban Montreal. The Canadian policies related to international students are not far from those of the Trump administration in the U.S., which originally planned to deport foreign students whose courses were fully online this fall. Ottawa is limiting who can enter the country, protecting Canadians who have largely flattened the COVID-19 curve. Entering the country to attend school is generally considered optional unless there is a requirement for a student to be present, Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson Jacqueline Callin said. "The onus is on the traveler to show that their presence in Canada is required," she said. Universities are offering most of their courses online for the fall semester, though some specific programs are running in-person. If a student’s course load is fully online, border agents are unlikely to wave them through. Online processing for student visas for Americans is taking about 19 to 20 weeks, attorneys said. It used to take up to a month. Canadian universities are now trying to stay on top of the ever-changing immigration guidance so they can communicate to international students what they need to know, should they try to cross the border. Read the full story story at politico [dot] com.